The cover for Alien to Any Skin, photograph and design by John Marin Flores

Well, the copies of Alien to Any Skin, that is. 🙂 Now “Skin” can keep her twin sister “Karu” (Baha-bahagdang Karupukan) company. They can both wait together for new homes. A bit like orphans, but definitely unlike Annie. Oh my. I need my coffee.

The kind folks of UST Publishing House will need two weeks before proper marketing and distribution can start, not that there are masses of eager readers at the gate. 🙂

This news comes as the world spins into further chaos and re-arrangement — floods, explosions in buses and airports, street protests, volcanic eruptions, drone fighter plane murders, new births.

Over eight years ago when we found out my wife was pregnant, she had to have her blood tested. The results came back quickly and the doctor sat us down. She told us the results of the test meant either of two things:

A. the pregnancy was a lot further on than we had expected, or

B. we were not having just one child

I think the sudden silence eventually gave in to laughter laced with disbelief. Or at least that is the memory I would rather remember. I am almost sure we didn’t weep or jump for joy or hand out free bus tickets (hand out bus tickets??? who does that???).

Once it was confirmed with a few other tests that indeed we were having twin girls, we changed our doctor. Hahaha, no, not because she gave us such shocking news, but because she recommended a paediatrician who has had twins and practices closer to where we live.

That doctor talked us through a lot. He helped us choose a date for the birth – we had to since twin births are usually more dangerous. So at dawn on 24 September 2002 we drove in the half-dark for a Caesarean operation at 8:00 AM. There was a lot of drama that day, induced (haha, I can laugh at it now, but hell it wasn’t funny then) by the anaesthetist who was half an hour late.

I was only allowed in the operating room after a long wait. I shall spare the gory details of skin spread out like an umbrella, all the cutting instruments dulled by blood, etc. You don’t need to know any of that for now. 🙂

Our twin girls were born half a minute from each other. (At the moment they have this silly notion that one is older than the other. But really, I was there and I cannot remember who came first, to be honest. I was just shown two alien looking gray things that squirmed.)

Well, leap into today, 25 January 2011. I am having twins again but they are being born on different days. The first one, let’s call her “Karu” – short for Baha-bahagdang Karupukan – was born today. I have been told her twin sister, “Skin” – for Alien to Any Skin – will be delivered sometime this week. Thus, twin books for a daddy of twins. It was the poet Gemino Abad who first pointed this out to me because I think I was too overwhelmed to realize the news then.

Not long ago I wrote a poem for my mother, “Pauwi sa Ngiti”. I said I’d try to translate it. Well I finished a first attempt and have posted it in one of the discussion boards I’ve been a member of for some time now. HERE IS THE LINK

I got word yesterday thatBaha-bahagdang Karupukan should be leaving the doors of the printers sometime this month. Alien to Any Skin should follow soon after that. I am excited, terrified, and a little sad. Finally they are going to brave the world which brings a sense of worry not that different from a parent with a child opening the gate on his/her own. Sad, well, I am not physically there to open the first bundle, turn the cover, feel the paper between my fingers, sense the reality that my work is no longer just mine.

Joanna Ruiz designed the cover. The spikes are that of a Brazilian Kapok tree.

John Marin Flores made magic with a photograph from his portfolio.

A million thanks to Jing Hidalgo and Sam Macaisa of UST Publishing House for all their kind support and endless patience.

Now I need to find my salesman’s hat. Or, as a good friend warned, these pages might end up as cockroach fodder.

So what was the highlight of this day? Hours spent at the only pharmacy that was open today after 5pm to get a prescription sorted out for my daughter who was stung by an insect in the garden. She has a history of allergic reactions, and not knowing what stung her added an interesting level of guesswork for the young doctor who saw her at the emergency ward. Apparently the young doctor has had a full day of treating patients with various types of insect stings. It must have been a busy time for critters of all sorts today after the unexpected downpour – thunder and summer rain on New Year’s Day!